The latest news in the world of professional soccer, including the US men's and women's national teams, USL, Major League Soccer, Major Arena Soccer League, National Women's Soccer League and North American Soccer League.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

US Women's National Team head coach Pia Sundhage invited 31 players to attend an 18-day training camp starting Saturday through December 20 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA to being preparations to compete in the 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament January 19-29 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The list includes all 21 players from the USWNT's 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup roster.

Here are the players, listed by position, then alphabetically, followed byr current team, if applicable:

Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union announced Wednesday goalkeeper Zac MacMath and midfielders Amobi Okuga and Zach Pfeffer will all be playing for teams in Europe in the offseason.

MacMath, who replaced an injured Faryd Mondragon as a starter after being selected the fifth overall pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, will play for Everton in the English Premier League for the second straight offseason.

Okugo, who started 10 of 15 games this past season, has joined SC Freiburg, currently in 17th place in Germany's Bundesliga after finishing ninth in 2010.

Pfeffer, the Union's first Home Grown Player at age 16, will play a second offseason with FC Hoffenheim, currently ninth in Germany's Bundesliga

Major League Soccer's FC Dallas announced Wednesday they have re-signed mdifielder Daniel Hernandez to a three-year contract extension that will see him play at least one season before transitioning to becoming an assistant coach under head coach Schellas Hyndman.

The native of Tyler, TX who was initially drafted by the Los Angeles Galaxy in 1998 after playing collegiately at SMU, where Hyndman was head coach, has played 13 seasons between the Galaxy and Dallas, joining Dallas in late 2009 and wore the captain's armband for 54 of 61 games since then.

He has scored six goals and 20 assists in 176 career games, starting 142.

From 2007 to 2009, Hernandez played 37 games combined in Mexico's Primera Division for Puebla (2007), Jaguares (2008) and Necaxa (2009) before deciding to play in the States.

NBC announced Wednesday Arlo White, who has spent the last two seasons as the play-by-play broadcaster for locally televised games of Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders, will become the voice for 46 MLS and four US Men's National Team broadcasts to air in 2012 as part of a new three-year deal between the Peacock Network and the league.

Of those games, three regular season games, two playoff games and two USMNT games will air on NBC, with the rest on NBC Sports Network, the soon-to-be-renamed NBC Spots Network, now known as Versus, with the first MLS game airing March 12.

Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes announced Wednesday they have signed forward Steven Lenhart to a contract extension and regained midfielder Shea Salinas in a trade with the Vancouver Whitecaps for allocation money.

Lenhart was acquired in 2011 as part of a SuperDraft trade with the Columbus Crew that sent the Crew San Jose's first round draft pick and allocation money.

In three seasons with the Crew, Lenhart has 13 goals and three assists.

In his first season with San Jose, he started 13 of 14 games, played a key role in a six-game unbeaten streak from May 11 to June 11, and had five goals and three assists.

Salinas was San Jose's only pick in the 2008 SuperDraft and had two goals in 23 games that season, In 2009, he had a career-high five assists and started 13 of 23 games.

The next two seasons, Salinas was selected by teams in the league's Expansion Draft.

In 2010 with the Philadelphia Union, he has one goal and started seven of 17 games, and, in 2011 with Vancouver, had a goal and three assist and started 18 of 26 games.

The 2011 USL PRO champion Orlando City Soccer Club announced Wednesday they have acquired a controlling interest in the USL Premier Development League's Central Florida Kraze, also based in Orlando, and will rename the team Orlando City U-23s.

The Kraze was founded in 1999, won their first Southeast Division title and eventual PDL National Championship in 2004 and are the only Florida-based team to win a PDL Championship.

Led by head coach Joe Avallone since its inception, the Kraze has never had a losing season and havewon two Southeast Division titles and made six PDL playoff appearances and four appearances in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament.

Currenty Kraze general manager Terry Garzen will retain his position with Orlando City U-23s and will have Daniel Russo assisting him in matters of team management and player personnel.

Major League Soccer released Wednesday a list of players eligible for selection in the league's two-stage Re-Entry Draft, with Stage 1 taking place Monday and Stage 2 happening December 19.

Created as part of the league's last collective bargaining agreement, the Re-Entry Draft gives players who had option years on their contracts with their last team the ability to be drafted to another team.

Teams that select a player in the draft must either accept the option year of their previous contract or extend a Bona Fide offer on a new deal, either of which the player involved can accept or reject. If the player rejects the offer, the drafting team holds right of first refusal on any other offers.

Here are the players that will be available in the 2012 Re-Entry Draft:

Robbie Keane had an unassisted goal in the 14th minute as the new Major League Soccer champion Los Angeles Galaxy shut out Indonesian National Selection 1-0 Wednesday in the first game of their Asian Pacific tour.

San Diego Sockers forward Kraig Chiles, who scored a league-record seven goals in a 16-10 win over Revolucion Tijuana last weekend at Del Mar Arena, was named Tuesday the Professional Arena Soccer League Player of the Week for Week 4 of the 2011-12 season, the second time in three weeks this season he has won the honor.

Chiles leads the league in points scored this season at 14.

The Sockers are 3-0 in the league's Western Division, 18-0 overall at Del Mar Arena, their home arena since rejoining the sport, and are on an overall 11-game winning streak.

The defending North American Soccer League champion NSC Minnesota Stars, who defeated the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in a two-game aggregate goal title series, announced Tuesday they have exercised 2012 contract options on 18 players and elected to terminate deals with five others.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Columbus Crew announced Tuesday they are exercising 2012 Major League Soccer season option years on the contracts on 14 players and declining them on seven others, making those players available for the annual two-stage Re-Entry Draft, with Stage 1 taking place next week.

Available for selection in that draft will be goalkeeper Alex Riggs, midfielders Kevin Burns, Santiago Prim, Dejan Rusmir and Ben Sippola, and forwards Jeff Cunningham and Andres Mendoza.

The league will announce the full list of players eligible for the Re-Entry Draft Wednesday.

After scoring eight points over the weekend, including a six-point hat trick, forward Adauto Neto of the defending Major Indoor Soccer League regular season champion Baltimore Blast was named the league's Player of the Week for Week 4 of the 2011-12 season Tuesday.

Neto had six points on a hat trick in a 26-9 rout of the Rochester Rhinos and a two-point goal in their 18-10 win over the Syraceuse Silver Knights to extend the Blast's winning streak to four games.

Well-traveled defender Jeremy Hall is headed to his fourth Major League Soccer franchise in less than a year, as he was traded Tuesday from FC Dallas to Toronto FC in exchange for a second round 2013 SuperDraft pick.

Drafted by the New York Red Bulls eleventh overall in the 2009 SuperDraft, he was traded last November to the Portland Timbers and, between those two teams, made 21 combined appearances in 2011, slightly less than the 37 combined he had with the Red Bulls during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Major League Soccer's Chivas USA traded midfielder Paulo Nagamura to Sporting Kansas City Tuesday in return for SKC's first pick in the 2012 Supplemental Draft.

Nagamura has made the most appearances in the league for a Brazilian player at 157, but started only six games last season due to suffering a strained calf and a right foot injury.

After playing for Arsenal in the English Premier League, Nagamura joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005, where he played for two season before being transferred to Toronto FC and then was traded to Chivas USA in 2007.

McDonald, who joined the team in mid-season from the San Jose Earthquakes, started all 18 games he was part of for United and scored a goal. At San Jose, he also scored a goal over 11 games, with eight of them starts.

Morsink, who won the team's 2011 Coaches Award for his work ethic, has started 20 of 22 games since joining the team in March 2010.

The Rochester Rhinos of USL PRO announced the signings Monday of former Charleston Battery defender Michael Zaher and defender Jack Traynor of the defending league champion Orlando City Soccer Club.

Zaher played from 2004 to 2007 at UCLA, competing in 70 career games and scoring two goals. He also played for the US U-18 Men's National Team while in college.

In 2008, he played at Major League Soccer's DC United and was on their Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament team. In 2009, he split 13 games that season between United and the San Jose Earthquakes.

In 2010, Zaher led the Battery to the final USL Second Division championship.

Traynor, an All-Big East player at Notre Dame, had two goals and seven assists in 65 career games and debuted in USL First Division with Miami FC Blues in 2009 against the same Rhinos he plays for now.

In 2010, he played in 27 games for AC St. Louis in the USSF Division 2 Pro League before the team folded.

In 17 games with Orlando City, Traynor assisted on two goals last season.

Major League Soccer's Portland Timbers, making plans for their second season in 2012, announced the re-signing of a number of players Monday, including goalkeeper Troy Perkins and defender David Horst, as well as exercised the 2012 contract options on 16 current players and declined them on six others -- goalkeeper Adam Brower, midfielders Rodrigo Lopez, Peter Lowry and Ryan Pore, and forwards Spencer Thompson and Brian Umony.

Perkins started 29 regular season games in 2011 and had nine shutouts, while Horst started in 11 of his 16 appearances last season.

The team also announced Monday the retirement of defender Kevin Goldthwaite, who had not played since a knee injury July 16 against the Chicago Fire.

He played in 91 overall games in his career with the San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC, New York Red Bulls, and the Timbers, where he had four goals and five assists in 2011.

Goldthwaite was a member of the Dynamo's 2006 MLS Cup championship team and led the Red Bulls to the 2008 championship game.

The Montreal Impact, joining Major League Soccer in the 2012 season, acquired more players Monday via trades.

In the first, the team sent allocation money to the defending MLS champion Los Angeles Galaxy in return for getting 2010 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Donovan Ricketts, who started 70 games in three seasons there and had 27 shutouts, including a club-record 11 this season.

In the second, Montreal returned defender Seth Sinovic, a selection in last week's Expansion Draft, to Sporting Kansas City and gave them allocation money and received midfielder Davy Arnaud.

Arnaud is the team's longest-tenured player with 240 appearances over ten seasons and had 43 goals and 35 assists in his career there. He played in 2011 in 22 games before having to undergo season-ending sports hernia surgery.

Monday, November 28, 2011

The Fresno Fuego of the USL Premier Development League announced Monday Freeway Insurance, founded in California in 1987 and now has over 150 locations in six states and subsidiaries in two others, has joined their growing list of corporate sponsors for the 2012 season, with more names to be announced soon, according to the team.

They join Marquez Brothers and El Mexicano, Little Caesar's and Comcast on the list.

The Laredo Heat of the USL Premier Dveleopment League announced Monday they have promoted assistant coach Fernandio Hernandez to head coach, replacing Israel Collizo, who is stepping down to work with the team's youth development initiative.

Machel Millwood and Mike Lookingland had three-point goals and JT Noone and Matt Wason each scored a pair of two-point goals as the defending Major Indoor Soccer League regular season champion Baltimore Blast outplayed the host Syracuse Silver Knights 18-10 Sunday at The Oncenter at War Memorial.

The Blast have the league's best record at 4-1, leading the Eastern Division by 1 1/2 games over the Silver Knights (3-3).

Baltimore travels to the Rochester Lancers (2-3) this Saturday and Syracuse is at the Missouri Comets (4-2) next Sunday.

JP Rodrigues had a four-point night with two two-point goals and Ian Bennett added a three-point shot as the defending Major Indoor Soccer League champion Milwaukee Wave shut down the Wichita Wings 13-0 through three quarters, then handled a 10-point fourth-quarter rally by Wichita to escape the confines of Milwaukee's US Cellular Arena with a 13-10 win Sunday.

The Wave are the lone undefeated team in the league at 4-0 and leads the Central Division by a game over the Missouri Comets (4-2), who they host Friday.

Bryan Perez had a pair of two-pointers to lead the Wings, now 1-5 and last in the Central, four games behind the Wave. Wichita hosts the Syracuse Silver Knights (3-3, second place in the Eastern Division) Friday at Hartman Arena.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Kraig Chiles scored the first four goals of the game en route to a Professsional Arena Soccer League record seven goals made during a 16-10 victory over Revolucion Tijuana Saturday at Del Mar Arena, where the Sockers have yet to lose since joining the league.

He also added an assist for a personal eight-point night.

Aaron Susi had two goals and three assists for the Socker and Brian Farber also posted a pair of goals.

Guillermo Rodriguez had a four-point night for Tijuana with a hat trick and an assist and former team owner Eduardo Velez added two more goals.

San Diego is now 3-0 and in second place in the Western Division, a half-game behind the Turlock Express (league best 4-0) and will face Tijuana in a rematch at Furati Arena December 9.

Tijuana, now 2-1, is in third place, 1 1/2 games behind Turlock, who they host Saturday before they play San Diego again.

Stefan Stokic and Geison each had five-point nights with a two-point and a three-point goal as the host Missouri Comets, on a Blueout game night Saturday at Independence Events Center in Independence, MO, defeated the winless Norfolk SharX 19-9 in Major Indoor Soccer League play.

Byron Alvarez added a pair of two-point goals, Vahid Assadpour pumped in a three, and Aduato Neto scored a two-pointer for the Comets, 4-2 and in second place in the Central Division, a half-game behind the undefeated and defending league champion Milwaukee Wave (3-0), who they play at Milwaukee's US Cellular Arena Friday.

Gerson dos Santos had two two-point goals, Cecil Lewis added a third two-pointer and Brady Bryant fired off a three-point goal for the SharX, in last place in the Eastern Division at 0-4, the worst record in the league. and three games behind the defending regular season league champ Baltimore Blast. The SharX next face the Wichita Wings at Hartman Arena in Wichita, KS Saturday.

Kwame Sarkodie had four goals and assisted on three others as the host Cincinnati Kings defeated the Illinois Piasa 10-4 Saturday in Professional Arena Soccer League play at Cincinnati Gardens.

Allen Eller had a pair of goals and assists, Sam Miller and Sam Fiore each talled a goal and an assist, and Rashawn Lamar and Will Peppard had solo goals for the Kings, who won their first game in four tries this season and, at 1-3, are in fifth place in the Eastern Division. Cincinnati will host the Ohio Vortex this Saturday.

Elvir Kafedzic and Roger Gemoules each had two goals for the Piasa, winless in the league's Eastern Division at 0-4, who host the Kansas Magic December 10.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

The defending Major Indoor Soccer League regular season champion Baltimore Blast scored the game's first four two-point goals en route to a 12-3 first quarter lead and defeated the host Rochester Lancers 26-9 Saturday in an afternoon contest at Blue Cross Arema at the War Memorial.

Aduato Neto had six points on a hat trick and Machel Millwood and recently-signed Shaun David added pairs of two-point goals for the Blast, now in sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division at 3-1, a half-game ahead of the Syracuse Silver Knights (3-2), who Baltimore plays Sunday at The Oncenter.

Rochester's Kyle Manscuk hit the game's lone three-point goal, Andrew Hoxie connected on two two-pointers and Jeremy Ortiz another two-pointer as the Lancers are now 2-3 and in third place in the Eastern Division, 1 1/2 games behind the Blast. Rochester next plays Thursday at the Norfolk Sharx, the lone winless team in the league.at 0-3.

Jamar Beasley had a pair of two-point goals and Carlos Farias and Alargie Jobe added a three-point goal each as the Wichita Wings hosted the Norfolk SharX at Hartman Arena Friday, beating them 16-11 to gain their first win of the Major Indoor Soccer season.

Marcello Alves has two two-pointers for the SharX and Brady Braynt has a three-pointer in the loss.

Wichita (1-4) snapped a four-game losing streak to start the season, but remain in last place in the Central Division, three games behind the defending league champion Milwaukee Wave, who they face next Friday at US Cellular Arena.

Norfolk (0-3) is now the last winless team in the league and is in last place in the Eastern Division, two games behind the co-leading Baltimore Blast (2-1) and the Syracuse Silver Knights (3-2). The SharX travel to the Missouri Comets Saturday night.

Midfielder Andy Najar of Major League Soccer's DC United will begin a two-week training stint Monday with Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League.

Najar will be the third United player to train with a European-based team this offseason, joining goalkeeper Bill Hamid (EPL's West Bromwich Albion) and defender Perry Kitchen (SC Freiburg of the German Bundesliga).

Friday, November 25, 2011

According to Friday's New York Times, Women's Professional Soccer, which will enter its fourth season in 2012, could be in danger of losing its status as a Division I-level league within US Soccer because they currently operate with below the required number of teams to retain their accreditation.

In 2011, the league had six teams -- the eventual regular and postseason champion Western New York Flash, along with the Atlanta Beat, Boston Breakers, magicJack FC, Philadelphia Independence and Sky Blue FC -- but US Soccer requires a league to have a minimum of eight teams in Division I.

The league has seen two championship teams fold in their history in the 2009 Los Angeles Sol and 2010's FC Gold Pride and the Chicago Red Stars, an original team in 2009, took a year's hiatus in 2011 to reorganize and said they would return for the 2012 season.

WPS also terminated the magicJack FC franchise following the 2011 season for refusing to meet league standards.

In a statement, WPS says it will apply for a waiver to allow them to keep their D-1 status, based on the high interest level for the sport in the US, the potential growth of available markets throughout the country, and the expressed interest in seriously viable expansion cities wanting to join for the 2013 season and US Soccer has given time more time to resolve all their issues before US Soccer makes a final decision on the waiver, though no date was announced for when a decision could be made.

Wednesday was not the start of happy holidays for 31 players from ten Major League Soccer teams that left these players unprotected and available for selection by the Montreal Impact at the league's Expansion Draft that day and were released.

The Rochester Lancers of the Major Indoor Soccer League announced Friday the signing of former Irondequit High School and Roberts Wesleyan College defender Jake Schindler to a contract and will suit up for Saturday's home game at Blue Cross Arena against the Baltimore Blast.

Schindler has played outdoors in the amateur National Premier Soccer League for Queen City FC and FC Buffalo.

After being left unprotected and made available to become members of the new Montreal Impact in 2012, Major League Soccer's Toronto FC released defenders Demetrius Omphroy, Eddie Vaitor and Kyle Davies; midfielders Leandre Griffit, Matt Gold and Gianluca Zavarise, and forward Javier Martinez.

The Major Indoor Soccer League's defending regular season champion Baltimore Blast announced the signing Wednesday on veteran forward Shaun David and the placing of forward Lucio Gonzaga on their inactive injured list.

David began his professional soccer career with the MISL's Dallas Sidekicks in the 2003-04 season, but also played for the St. Louis Steamers, La RaZa de Monterrey, New Jersey Ironmen and, lastly, the Omaha Vipers.

In his 2003-04 season at Dallas, he was named to the MISL's All-Rookie Team, and was an All-MISL selection in the 2005-06 season with St. Louis, whom he led to the 2006 MISL Championship game, where they lost to the Blast.

Gonzaga was placed on the inactive injured list after undergound surgery Monday to repair a torn an anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

In three previous seasons with the Blast, he was scored 105 points om 42 goals and 13 assists.

Forward Steve Gillespie of the Ohio Vortex was named Wednesday the Professional Arena Soccer League's Player of the Week for Week 3 of the 2011-12 season after scoring two goals and assisting on four goals in an 8-6 win last Saurday over the Cincinnati Kings that ended a team-record 12-game losing streak.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Four players -- Ljubomir Kocic, Mauricio Salles, Doug Miller and Brayton Knapp -- each had a pair of two-point goals as the Rochester Lancers defeated the host Syracuse Silver Knights 22-13 Wednesday in Major Indoor Soccer League play at War Memorial at the Oncenter.

Syracuse got their points on a seven-point night from Jeffrey Hughes (two two-pointers and a three-point shot) and a six-point hat trick from Slavisa Ubiparipovic.

Rochester evened its record to 2-2 with the win, putting them a half-game behind the Silver Knights (3-2) and the Baltimore Blast (2-1), who both teams play this weekend, for the lead in the league's Eastern Division.

Rochester hosts the Blast Saturday; Syracuse welcomes them this Sunday.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union acquired the services of midfielder Nizar Khalfan from the Vancouver Whitecaps at the leagues's Waiver Draft Wednesday and released goalkeeer Thorne Holder and defender Juan Diego Gonzalez.

Khalfan has scored a goal and four assists in 22 games over the last two MLS seasons at Vancouver and played 58 games for them between the 2009 USL First Division and 2010 USSF Division 2 Pro League season.

Holder, signed by the Union March 1, played in four Reserve League games, two of them against the New England Revolution -- and suffered a season-ending concussion in their September 18 game against the Columbus Crew's reserve squad.

Gonzalez, who came to Philadelphia August 5, 2010 after playing for Colombia's La Equidad for three seasons, played in seven games for the Union in 2010, but not at all for the senior team in 2011, starting all 10 games for their Reserve League team.

Wednesday, Major League Soccer's prime focus was all about the Montreal Impact, the league's newest team in 2012, as they bolstered their roster with picks made during a teleconferenced Expansion Draft and a little draft action before the draft began.

First, the Seattle Sounders traded defender Tyson Walsh to the Impact in return for allocation money.

Walsh, chosen 18th overall by the then-Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City) out of California Berkeley, spent three seasons with the Sounders after three in Kansas City. He started 22 of 23 games in 2011 for SKC with a goal and an assist.

Then, the Expansion Draft took place.

Here are the players, in alphabetical order and with last team, the Impact chose:

However, Ching reportedly told media oulets earlier this week he would retire from MLS if he was selected by the Impact and Montreal, after the draft, traded the rights to Riley, the last player in the Expansion Draft, to Chivas USA in return for forward Justin Braun and midfielder Geison Moura.

Half of the teams in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Men's Soccer Rankings Top 10, released Wednesday, were unchanged from last month -- the top four of Spain, Netherland, Germany and Uruguay, as well as tenth-ranked Argentina.

The movement in the past month came in the middle of the poll with England climbing two spots to fifth from seventh, Brazil falling one spot to sixth, Portugal rising from eighth to seventh, Croatia returning to the top ten at eighth, improving from 12th in November, and Italy falling from sixth to ninth.

The US, who completed their season with a 6-8-3 record following a 3-1 road victory over Sloevnia remained in 34th place.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Baltimore Blast goalkeeper Sagu was named the Major Indoor Soccer League's Player of the Week Tuesday for Week 3 of the 2011-12 season.

Sagu had a combined 32 saves in the team's two victories last week -- 10-8 in overtime last Friday against the Missouri Comets at Independence Events Center in Independence, MO and 12-6 over the Wichita Wings last Saturday at Hartman Arena in Wichita, KS.

Sagu has the third-best points against average in the league at 8.74 and has a .729 save percentage so far this season.

The Richmond Kickers of USL PRO announced Tuesday they have re-signed midfielder Ryan Heins for the 2012 season.

Heins started 27 of 28 regular season games last season en route to the team reaching the semifinals in the USL PRO playoffs and the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament and was fifth on the team in scoring with four goals and two assists for ten points. He also contributed to the team winning 11 games by shutout.

A four-year starter at Temple University, Heins had seven goals and 11 assists in his career and was named to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team in his senior season.

He was the first pick of the Philadelphia Kick in the 2007 Major Indoor Soccer League Expansion Draft.

In 2008, he debuted with the Harrisburg City Islanders in then-USL First Division (now USL PRO), leading the team with seven goals and an assist in 17 games.

He ended the 2008 season on loan to the Rochester Rhinos, then stayed for the 2009 USL-1 season and the 2010 USSF Division 2 Pro League season, appearing in a total of 51 games, before joining the Kickers.

Ahead of a Wednesday Expansion Draft to help build the roster for Major League Soccer's 19th team, the Montreal Impact, who joins in the 2012 season, all 18 current franchises announced their individual lists of the players they will and will not protect.

The 10-round draft will be held via teleconference at 2 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, with the Impact to hold a press conference to discuss their picks one hour later.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo, who lost to the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 in Sunday's MLS Cup championship game, has become the eighth and final team in the field for the 2012 Disney Pro Soccer Classic preseason tournament February 24 to March 3 at ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, FL.
The field, expanded to eight teams from four previously, includes MLS' Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, Montreal Impact, FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City, along with Sweden's BK Hacken and Orlando City Soccer Club, the defending USL PRO champion and tournament host.

The Portland Timbers were the big winners Sunday as Major League Soccer announced the winners of its 2011 Club and Executive Awards, given to those teams and individuals for their outstanding contributions off the playing field.

The Timbers were named the Operations Staff of the Year and earned individual awards for Mike Golub (Doug Hamilton Executive of the Year), Ryan Brach (Corporate Partnership Executive of the Year), Cory Dolich (Marketing Executive of the Year), Joe Cote (Ticketing Executive of the Year) and Brian Costello (Local Digital Editor of the Year).

The Seattle Sounders won three honors -- Corporate Partnership Team of the Year, Partnership Marketing of the Year and, for the third year in a row, Ticket Sales Team of the Year.

Here are the other awards announced Sunday and their winners:

PUBLIC RELATIONS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Sporting Kansas City

MERCHANDISER OF THE YEAR
Philadelphia Union/Angelo's Soccer Corner

COMMUNITY RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE YEAR (presented by MLS W.O.R.K.S)
Toronto FC

TEAM ADMINISTRATOR OF THE YEAR (presented by ATP Event Experts)
Francisco Tobar - DC United

ATHLETIC TRAINING STAFF OF THE YEAR (presented by Mueller Sports Medicine)
Houston Dynamo

Jonatan Santos had a three-point goal and assisted on a Hewerton Moreira goal as the defending Major Indoor Soccer League champion Milwaukee Wave got past the host Missouri Comets 11-6 Sunday at the Independence Events Center in Independence, MO.

Joe Hammes, Marcio Leite and Ian Bennett each had two-point goals as the Wave remains the lone undefeatd team in the league, leading the Central Division at 3-0 and hosting the winless Wichita Wings (0-4) next Sunday.

Byron Alvarez led the Comets (3-2, one game behind the Wave in the standings)), who next host the Norfolk SharX this Saturday.

Chaz O'Dell had a hat trick, Matt Germain and Brett Porter each had a pair of goals, and Daniel Jiregna added another for good measure as the host Kansas Magic handed Detroit Waza Flo Pro their first loss of the 2011 Professional Arena Soccer League season 8-7 at Epic Indoor Sports Sunday in Overland Park, KS.

Miki Djerisilo and Costea Decu each had two goals for Waza Flo Pro, now 4-1 in the Easten Division and tied with the Magic at 3-0 in the standings.

Brothers Dominic and Tino Scicluna had goals for Detroit, along with Darrel Quinn in the loss.

Kansas next hosts the Louisville Lightning December 3, while Detroit takes on the Cincinnati Kings at the Taylor Sportsplex in Taylor, MI December 17.

Midfielder Landon Donovan was named the Most Valuable Player of Major League Soccer's MLS Cup 2011 championship game Sunday at their home field, The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, as the Western Conference regular season and postseason champion Los Angele Galaxy played to a 1-0 victory over the Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo.

Donovan was assisted by Robbie Keane and David Beckham in the 72nd minute of the game after Keane and Beckham though they had teamed on an earlier goal in the 57th minute, but a controversial offsides call took the goal away.

It was the Galaxy's third time winning the league champiosnhip and, for Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena, he became the first coach in league history to win three MLS Cup titles.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Majell Aterado scored the game-tying goal with :46 left in regulation and Brian Farber made the second of his two goals of the game at 5:26 of overtime led the two-time defending Professional Arena Soccer League champion San Diego Sockers to a 7-6 victory Saturday to keep their home record perfect at Del Mar Arena.

Adriano had a hat trick to lead the Bolts, Hugo Casillas added a pair of goals and Enrique Tovar added a goal.

The Sockers are 2-0 in the Western Division and are a game behind the best team in the league, the Turlock Express, at 4-0 and will host Revolucion Tijuana this Saturday.

Anaheim, an expansion team, is 0-2 and shares that record with the Tacoma Stars for last place in the division. The Bolts host the Express December 2 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

With the Montreal Impact joining Major League Soccer in 2012 as the league's 19th team and the 10th team in the Eastern Conference, creating an unbalanced league, the MLS Board of Governors announced changes Saturday to how the 2012 schedule will be laid out.

All 19 teams will still play 34 regular season games from mid-March to October 2012 but teams will compete in more games in their respective conferences.

In the Eastern Conference, teams will play 25 games against their conference foes, facing seven of the nine teams three times and the other two twice, and will play the nine teams in the Western Conference once, either five times at home and four times on the road, or vice versa.

In the Western Conference, teams will play 24 games against their conference foes, evenly split between playing four teams twice at home and one away and four teams twice on the road and one home.

All schedule changes will be reversed in 2013.

Also changing will be the format for the MLS Cup playoffs.

With the unbalanced league, ten teams will remain playoff-bound, but it will be the top five teams in each conference advancing with no wild card teams.

The fourth- and fifth-seeded teams in each conference will play a one-game playoff to determine who moves into their respective conference semifinal series to meet the conference's number one seeds with the second- and third-seeded teams gaining byes into the semfinals.

Conference championship games in 2012 will be two-leg aggregate goal affairs but the MLS Cup championship game will remain a single game.

Finally, MLS has decided to award the rights to host MLS Cup to the team who wins the Supporters Shield for having the best overall record, versus having teams bid for hosting rights.

The 2010 MLS Cup, which will be played at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, home to the Western Conference regular season and postseason champion Los Angeles Galaxy, was awarded this game by that procedure. The Galax host the Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo.

Tobin Heath scored in the 81st minute off an assist from Alex Morgan as the US Women's National Team played Sweden to a 1-1 draw Saturday before over 18,000 fans at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

Sweden opened the scoring in the 28th minute on an unassisted goal by Sofia Jakobsson.

The USWNT, ranked number one in the world by FIFA, finished their 2011 season with a record of 8-3-2 and will hold a training camp sometime in December to find the squad to play in 2012 London Olympic Tournament games in January in Vancouver.

Aduato Neto and Pat Healey each scored a three-point goal Saturday to lead the defending Major Indoor Soccer League regular season champion Baltimore Blast to a 12-6 victory over the winless Wichita Wings at their Hartman Arena nest in Wichita, KS.

Jamar Beasley had a pair of two-pointers and Carlos Farias scored a standard goal, but Wichita now holds the league's worst record at 0-4, three games behind the Miwalukee Wave and Missouri Comets for the lead in the division.

Ljubomir Kocic and Braylon Knapp each had three-point goals and Andrew Hoxie and Mauricio Salles added a pair of two-pointers each as the host Rochester Lancers handed the Syracuse Silver Knghts their first loss of the Major Indoor Soccer League season with a 22-13 thrashing Saturday at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial in Rochester, NY.

Alex Megson led the Silver Knights with a three-pointer and Alex Megson put up two other goals as Syracuse is now 3-1, but still leading the Eastern Division.

Rochester is now 1-2 and is 1 1/2 games behind Syracuse with those same teams meeting again Wednesday at Syracuse's Oncenter.

Joe Hammes had a seven-point night with a pair of two-point goals and a three-pointer and Greg Howes, Ian Bennett and Marcio Leite each had two two-pointers as the defending Major Indoor Soccer League champion Milwaukee Wave thrashed the expansion Norfolk SharX 22-7 Saturday at US Cellular Arena in Milwaukee.

The win puts the Wave (2-0) in a tie for the Central Division lead with the Missouri Comets (3-1), who they face at Independence, MO's Events Center Sunday.

Miguel Ferrer had a three-point goal for Norfolk and Matt Claire added a pair of two-pointers as the SharX lost their second straight game and are in last place in the Eastern Division ahead of a game this Friday at the Wichita Wings.

Adrian Gutierrez and Samual Saldate had a pair of goals and Jesse Horta and Eric Aragon each had a goal and two assists as the host Turlock Express washed away the Phoenix Monsoon 9-2 Saturday in Professional Arena Soccer League play at Turlock Indoor Soccer in Turlock, CA.

The Express now lead the league's Western Division at 4-0 and will next face Revolucion Tijuana on the road December 3.

Roberto DeLima and Chris Nwaebi scored goals for the expansion Monsoon, 1-3 and in fifth place , three games behind the Express and tied with the Tacoma Stars (0-2) in the standings.

Down 2-1 at halftime, Detroit Waza Flo Pro edged the host Illinois Piasa 4-3 Saturday in Professional Arena Soccer League play at The Sports Academy in Glen Carbon, IL.

Costea Decu scored first for Detroit, but Jon Fridal and Chris Anzalone countered for the Piasa to take the halftime lead, then Miki Djersilo made the game-tying goal in the third period and Dominic Scicluna and Zach Wilkes added goals for Waza Flo Pro, now leading the Eastern Division at 4-0, and will face the Kansas Magic at Epic Indoor Sports in Overland Park, KS Sunday.

The Piasa is 0-3 and faces the Cincinnati Kings this Saturday at Cincinnati Gardens.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

After moving their training camp from downtown Los Angeles to the campus of Cal State-Fullerton recently, the Los Angeles Blues announced Friday they will play all their 2012 season home games in USL PRO at Titan Stadium on the school's campus.

The Blues split games last season between Titan Stadium, Norco College's Mustang Stadium and Centennial High School in Corona, CA.

J.T. Noone's overtime goal at the 8:59 mark Friday led the defending Major Indoor Soccer League regular season champion Baltimore Blast to a 10-8 upset over the previously unbeaten Missouri Comets, but the Comets remain on top of the Central Division at 3-1.

Max Ferninand led the Blast with a two-point goal and an assist in the victory.

The Turlock Express improved to 3-0 and now leads the Western Division in the Professional Arena Soccer League after defeating the Phoenix Monsoon 6-4 Friday at Turlock Indoor Soccer in Turlock, CA.

After a scoreless first period, Turlock exploded to a 4-0 halftime lead and extended it to 5-0 in the third before Roberto DeLama's two goals led Phoenix (1-2, two games behind Turlock in fourth place) in a valiant comeback effort.

The Express and the Monsoon will meet again Saturday at Turlock Indoor Soccer.

Four players -- Ross Hopkins, Othaniel Yanez, Corey Maret and David Horne -- each scored two goals as the host Louisville Lightning outlasted the Cincinnati Kings 13-4 Friday in their 2011-12 Professional Arena Soccer League home opener at the Mockingbord Valley Sports Complex.

Hopkins assisted on two other goals and Maret assisted on one goal for the Lightning, in third place in the Eastern Division at 2-1, a half-game behind the expansion Kansas Magc (2-0) for second and a full game behind Detroit Waza Flo Pro (3-0) for first.

Kwame Sarkodie, Sam Fiore, Nik Fjokic and Matt Brown all scored for Cincinnati, now 0-2 and tied for last place in the Eastern Division with the Illinois Piasa and the Ohio Vortex. The Kings host the Piasa next Saturday.

Honoring their remarkable run at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany, where they advanced to the championship final before losing to eventual champion Japan, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber named the US Women's National Team the winner of his annual Commissioner's Award at Friday's MLS Awards Celebration in Los Angeles, in advance of Sunday'a MLS Cup championship game between the Eastern Conference's Houston Dynamo and the Western Conference's Los Angeles Galaxy at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Women's Professional Soccer's Boston Breakers announced the re-signing Friday of current US Women's National Team midfielder Meghan Klingenberg, who will play Saturday in the team's final game of the 2011 season against Sweden at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

Klingenberg was traded to Boston by now-defunct magicJack FC June 1 and, four days later, she scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory over her old team.

She finished the season with that goal and two assists, all coming at Boston, and was nominated for the league's Rookie of the Year.

The Rochester Lancers of the Major Indoor Soccer League announced Friday the signing of goalkeeper Patrick Hannigan and the release of goalkeeper Neil Kitson so he can pursue outdoor soccer playing opportunities.

Hannigan, a native of Philadelphia, played for hometown Temple University, where he was a two-time Atlantic 10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

He was selected in the third round of Major League Soccer's 2005 Supplemental Draft by the MetroStars.

Hannigan played in 2005 for the outdoor Rochester Rhinos in USL First Division, then went indoors to play for the MISL's Philadelphia Kixx, where he was named to the league'a All-Rookie Team in the 2006-07 season, then moved to the New Jersey Ironmen of the Xtreme Soccer League for their only season in 2008-09.

He most recently played outdoors for the Ocean City Nor'Easters of the USL Premier Development League.

The Lancers host the Syracuse Silver Knights Saturday at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

Despite playing for three teams this season, DC United forward Dwayne De Rosario was named the 2011 Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player Friday, despite becoming the first winner to be selected from a non-playoff-qualifying team.

He beat out finalists Bard Davis of the Houston Dynamo, Brek Shea of FC Dallas, Landon Donovan of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Mauro Rosales of the Seattle Sounders for the honor and is the third United player to earn it, following Marco Etcheverry (1998), Christian Gomez (2006) and Luciano Emilio (2007).

After beginning the season with Toronto FC, De Rosario was traded to the New York Red Bulls before finally landing with United, where he played in 18 games. Overall this season, he finished with 16 goals and 12 assists in 33 games, 31 of which he started, and was the only player in the league to finish in double-figures in both scoring categories.

He tied with San Jose Eartthquakes star Chris Wondolowski for the league's Golden Boot winner, but had more assists than him to win the award.

Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps announced the signing Thursday of their fifth Home Grown Player and a Generation adidas player in 2010 Canadian U-17 National Team Player of the Year Bryce Alderson.

Alderson currently plays for Vancouver's FC Residency U-18 team in the US Soccer Development Academy, where he has scored two goals in six games this season, and also appeared in two MLS Reserve League games as a guest player.

He began his soccer career with the Kitchener Youth Soccer Club and also played for the Kitchener Spirit of the Western Ontario Youth Soccer League.

He led his country to a runner-up finish at the 2010 CONCACAF U-17 Championship in Montego Bay, Jamaica, earning them a spot in the 2010 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where he started all five games.

Alderson also captained Canada to silver medals at the 2008 and 2010 Canadian All-Star Championships in the U-14 and U-16 team competitions and played for Toronto-based Portugal FC in the Canadian Soccer League's Reserve Division.

FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League announced the signing Thursday of defender/midfielder Kevin Hatchi, who last played in 2010 for the Montreal Impact in the USSF Division 2 Pro League before being released in June 2011 as they transitioned to the NASL, to a one-year contract, effective January 8, 2012.

Born in France and speaks both French and English, Hatchi had previously trained in Cyprus with Olympiakos Nicosie and Ermis Aradippou, and also played for teams in France, South Korea, Romania and Belgium.

United Soccer Leagues announced Thursday Texas Dutch Lions, an affiliate partner of FC Twente of the Dutch Premier League and Dutch Lions FC, owner of the Dayton (OH) Dutch Lions franchises in USL PRO and the USL W-League, will own a franchise in the 2012 Premier Development League season and franchises in USL PRO and the W-League in the 2013 seasons.

In the case of USL PRO, the North Houston, TX franchise says they would plan to take over an existing franchise, but did not state they wouldn't join as an expansion franchise.

As is the case with the current Dutch Lions operation in Dayton, the team will operate a youth development program in North Houston.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

In their major roster move this week, Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer announced the re-signings Thursday of defender Anita Asante and forward Carolyn Blank for the 2012 season.

Tuesday, the team signed Dutch forward Manon Melis and, Wednesday, added Canadian Women's National Team and veteran WPS star goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc and defender Candice Chapman.

Asante, born in London, spent a decade with Arsenal before joining Chelsea Ladies in the English Women's Premier League in 2008.

In the 2006-07 season, she led the Gunners to four titles -- the UEFA Women's Cup, FA Women's Cup, FA Women's National Premier League Championship and the FA Women's Premier League Cup.

She has played for her country's national team since 2009, leading them to the 2009 Cyprus Cup championship, and played at the last two FIFA Women's World Cups.

Blank came to the league from West Virginia University, where she had 13 goals and seven assists in a program-record 92 games played and started, and was a four-time Most Valuable Player and the all-time leading scorer at Toms River High School in New Jersey before playing for the Mountaineers, where she was a two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America player in her junior and senior season and led them to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

She was drafted by St. Louis Athletica in the 2010 WPS Draft and started all six games for the team, scoring a goal, before they disbanded. Blank then signed with the last-place Atlanta Beat and started eight of 13 games there.

Blank then snatched up a chance to return to her native state for the 2011 season, starting 17 games for Sky Blue and scoring a game-winning goal in the 88th minute of a midseason win over the Boston Breakers.

Major League Soccer's Ethan White, a defender with DC United, and Eric Kronberg, a goalkeeper with Sporting Kansas City, are both dealing with sports hernia surgeries, according to their teams Thursday.

White underwent surgery on both sides of his body in Munich, Germany after suffering a right knee injury in a scrimmage last Friday with the US U-23 Olympic team against VkL Bochum in Duisberg, Germany.

He scored a goal in his debut league season of 2011 and started 21 of 24 games for United and was the third member of the team's youth academy to be promoted to the senior team, joining goalkeeper Bill Hamid and midfielder Andy Najar.

Kronberg, meanwhile, will undergo his surgical procedure Tuesday in Los Angeles and be out of action for up to eight weeks, but will fully recover in time for the 2012 preseason.

He allowed five goals in four games this season, his sixth in the league, and is the second-longest tenured player on the roster, having been a fourth round pick in the 2006 SuperDraft.

Kronberg also had ten saves, recorded his first career shutout in a scoreless draw against Toronto FC this season, and had three shutouts and gave up 11 goals in eight games in the MLS Reserve League in 2011.

He is also the third team member of the team, following Omar Bravo and Davy Arnaud, to undergo the procedure.

Vancouver Whitecaps forward Omar Salgado, the first overall pick in the 2011 Major League Soccer SuperDraft, has begun a training stint in England with the reserve team of English Premier League franchise Fulham through December 4.
Salgado, who had a goal and an assist in 14 appearances with the Whitecaps this season, trained with Everton in the EPL before being drafted this year.

He also recently trained with the US U-23 Olympic team in Duisberg, Germany and played in a scoreless draw against a team of players from Azerbaijan born between 1990 and 1993.

Defender Manya Makoski, who last played in Women's Professional Soccer in 2009 for then-champion Los Angeles Sol, will make her return to the league in 2012 with the defending champion Western New York Flash, according to the team Wednesday.

Makoski spent the 2010 season in Iceland with Thor, where she started 22 games. The team also played in the recent UFEA Champions Leagiue, but was eliminated in the playoffs by eventual league runner-up Turbine Potsdam.

She began her career as a member of the US U-19 and U-21 Girls National Teams, where she won a FIFA World Championship and three straight Nordic Cup championships.

After a collegiate career at Arizona State University that saw her finish third all-time in game-winning goals (nine), second all-time in assists (22) and fifth all-time in goals (24) and was the fifth player in team history to record over 70 points in a single season, among other accolades, she played for Connecticut Soccer Plus in the semi-professional Women's Premier Soccer League in 2007 and 2008, winning the 2007 East North title.

After winning a WPS regular season championship with the Sol in 2009, the team shut themselves down before the start of the 2010 season and she was selected ninth overall by the Atlant Beat in a dispersal draft, but would miss the season due to a preseason injury.

FC Tampa Bay of the North American Soccer League announced the re-signing Wednesday of Daniel Scott, the younger brother of Zach Scott, who plays for Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders, to a two-year deal.

Scott joined Tampa Bay after leading the Kitsap Pumas to their first United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League title last season and was named to the league's All-Western Conference Team.

Scott previously played in the PDL for the Tacoma Tide, where he led them to a Northwest Division regular season championship in 2008, and for the Seattle Wolves in 2009, where he was a team captain and was named to the league's All-Western Conference First Team.

He also spent the 2009 season with Seattle Sounders Reserve in the MLS Reserve League.

Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer announced the signings Wednesday for the 2012 season of Canadian Women's National Team goalkeeper Karina Le Blanc and defender Candace Chapman.

Le Blanc, a member of Canada's last four teams in the FIFA Women's World Cup, played three seasons in the former Women's United Soccer Association with the Boston Breakers, then joined the USL W-League, playing for the Montreal Xtreme and the New Jersey Wildcats before moving to WPS, where she has starred at the Los Angeles Sol, Philadelphia Independence and, most recently, at disbanded magicJack FC.

Chapman will become the first player in league history to play for all three of WPS' championship teams -- the Los Angeles Sol in 2009, FC Gold Pride in 2010 and the Western New York Flash this season -- and also began her career with the WPS' Breakers in 2009.

She also played in the W-League for the Toronto Inferno, Atlanta Silverbacks Women and the Vancouver Whitecaps Women, where she led them to their second league championship in three years in 2006.

The Austin Aztex of the USL Premier Development League announced Wednesday former head coach Paul Daglish of the North American Soccer League's FC Tampa Bay will take the same position there for the 2012 season.

Daglish currently serves as the director of soccer with the Lake Travis (TX) Youth Association and is head coach of the Dynamo Juniors program.

A native of Scotland, Daglish has played soccer professionally in the US and internationally.

The Aztex also announced they will field a team in the USL Super-20 League in 2012.

The Richmond Kickers of USL PRO announced Wednesday the re-signing of midfielder Michael Callahan to a multi-year deal after he played in 16 games this past season and assisted on a goal in a 2-1 April 27 win over the Charleston Battery as well as leading them to the semifinal rounds of the USL PRO playoffs and the 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament.

Callahan came to the Kickers after playing 47 times over the 2009 and 2010 seasons for the Austin Aztex in USL First Division and the US Soccer Federation's one-season Division 2 Pro League.

He had ten goals and 13 assists and started 79 of 82 games over four seasons at North Carolina, where he was a National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas Men's Collegiate Scholar All-American in his senior season and as an NSCAA/adidas All-American.

The Charleston Battery of USL PRO, host of the 2012 Carolina Challenge Cup preseason tournament, announced the schedule of round-robin games to be played during the event, held on February 25, February 29 and March 3 ar Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, SC.

The Battery will host three Major League Soccer teams in the exhibition -- two-time defending champion DC United, the Chicago Fire and the Columbus Crew.

On the first matchday February 25, United will open defense of their title against the Fire at 5 p.m. local time, followed by the Battery facing the Crew at 7:15 p.m.

The second matchday, February 29, will see the Crew and Fire play at 5 p.m. with Charleston battling United at 7:15 p.m.

Finally, on March 3, United and the Crew match up at 5 p.m., followed by a Battery-Fire matchup at 7:15 p.m.

United Soccer Leagues announced Wednesday VisionPro Institute, based in England, will operate an international youth soccer academy in the Tampa, FL area, partnered with Brandon FC (FL) Flames in the near future.

VSI established their first such academy earlier this year in La Manga, Spain.

VSI also announced they will field teams in the USL Premier Development League, W-League and Super-20 League for the 2012 season and in USL PRO for the 2013 season.

After a season-long voting process that included an NCAA March Madness-style tournament competition to thin the field of nominees for each award, Major League Soccer Wednesday announced forward Darlington Nagbe of the Portland Timbers and goalkeeper Kasey Keller of the Seattle Sounders were selected by fans to win the league's 2011 Goal and Save of the Week honor.

Nagbe's 45th minute goal in an eventual 2-1 loss at home to Eastern Conference regular season champion Sporting Kansas City earned 42 percent of the online vote, followed by Eric Hassli of the Vancouver Whitecaps (31 percent), Fredy Montero of the Sounders (25 percent) and Davide Chuimiento of the Whitecaps (four percent).

Keller, who earned his first MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award Tuesday, earned a same 45 percent of the vote for his four-save stop on the same play in a Week 31 contest versus the San Jose Earthquakes. Troy Perkins of the Timbers, who had two of the four final nominations for the contest, was second and third in voting with 32 and 14 percent, respectively, followed by Teemu Tainio of the New York Red Bulls in last at 12 percent.

Having ended their 2011 season with a 3-2 win over Slovenia Tuesday, the US Men's National Team was informed Wednesday of their schedule of games for the third round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Rio De Janiero.

The US recently was drawn into Group A in the 12-team tournament, along with Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala and Jamaica.

In the other two groups, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salavdor and Guyana make up Group B, with Canada, Honduras, Cuba and Panama placed in Group C.

The US will open irs six-game schedule June 8 when they host Antigua and Barbuda, then will travel to Guatemala three days later June 12.

After a two-month break, qualification play will resume September 7 when the US travels to Jamaiza, then welcomes them to the States four days later on the 11th.

The final two games of the schedule see the US visiting Antigua and Barbuda October 12, then hosting Guatemala October 14.

Locations and times for all games will be announced at a later date.

The top two teams in each of the four qualifying groups after the third round move into a single six-team table with the top three teams in the standings after that being named to represent CONCACAF in 2014.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

After having a hat trick to go with a trio of assists in their 10-6 season-opening win on the road Saturday against the expansion Anaheim Bolts at the Anaheim Convention Center, Kraig Chiles of the two-time defending league champion San Diego Sockers was named Tuesday the Professional Arena Soccer League's Player of the Week for Week 2 of the 2011-12 season.

Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo, who will face the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Galaxy in Sunday's MLS Cup championship game at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, handed out their 2011 team awards at a banquet Tuesday.

Adam Moffat (Newcomer of the Year and Goal of the Year), Tally Hall (Save of the Year and Ironman of the Year), and Brad Davis (Humanitarian of the Year and Most Valuable Awards) picked up multiple awards.

In other awards, Houston's 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake was named the Game of the Year, Andre Hainault was named Defender of the Year, and Geoff Cameron won the team's Budweiser Golden Boot award as their leading goal scorer.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

CONCACAF announced Tuesday the schedule for quarterfinal games in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League to take place in early March.

Three Major League Soccer teams -- the Seattle Sounders, Toronto FC and the Los Angeles Galaxy -- remain in the competition to represent the confederation at the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup and will compete in two-leg, aggregate goal matches, with winners advancing to the semifinals in late March.

The Sounders will host Santos Laguna of Mexico in the first leg of their matchup March 7 at Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field at 10 p.m. Eastern time, then travel to Torreon, Mexico for the second leg March 14 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

Toronto will host the Galaxy March 7 at BMO Field at 8 p.m. Eastern time, with the Galaxy hosting the second game March 14 at The Home Depot Center at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

The winner of the Sounders-Santos series will face the Galaxy-Toronto winner in the semifinals with either Los Angeles or Toronto hosting the first leg of that two-game series between March 27 and 29 and the Sounders-Santos victor hosting game two between April 3 and 5.

The other quarterfinal matchups feature Morelia and Monterrey in an all-Mexican Primera Division series and Isidro Metapan of El Salvador against Mexico's Pumas UNAM.

Morelia hosts Monterrey March 6, then head to Monterrey March 13, while Metapan welcomes the Pumas March 8 before hitting the road March 15.

Houston Dynamo forward Jason Garey will miss Sunday's MLS Cup championship game against the Los Angeles Galaxy after the Major League Soccer star underwent arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to repair a torn labrum and have bone spurs removed from his right hip.

Garey played in 11 games over all competitions this season and led the team's Reserve League squad with three goals and two assists.

Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer announced Tuesday the signing of Dutch forward Manon Melis, the top scorer in three of the last seasons in Sweden's Damallsvenskan for LdB FC Malmo, where she has scored an amazing 64 goals in 63 games.

She has also played 83 times for the Dutch National Women's Team, scoring 40 goals.

Syracuse Silver Knights goalkeeper Eric Reed, who spent the summer playing in USL PRO for the Charlotte Eagles, was named Tuesday the Major Indoor Soccer League's Player of the Week for Week 2 of the 2011-12 season.

Reed had a combined 32 saves over two victories for his team -- 23-7 over the Norfolk SharX last Friday and an18-7 upset over the defending regular season champion Baltimore Blast the next night.

Reed is currently in second place in the league in points against average at 9.72 and save percentage at 78 percent, trailing Missouri Comets goalkeeper Danny Waltman.

Walter Chevez, Emilio Renteria and Bernardo Ador scored goals as the host Columbus Crew won the East Division championship and the best record in Major League Soccer's 2011 Reserve League season after defeating DC United 3-1 Tuesday at Crew Stadium.

Joseph Ngwenya scored the lone goal for United.

The Crew finished with a 9-1-0 record and 27 points, while United was second in the division at 5-1-4 with 19 points.

Edson Buddle, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scored goals as the US Men's National Team broke a two-game losing streak and ended a five-game stretch of playing to 1-0 decisions, losing four of those times, in a 3-1 victory over Slovenia at Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana to end their 2011 schedule.

Tim Matavz scored Slovenia's lone goal.

The US ended their season, however, ended their season with a losing record of 6-8-3 overall and 2-4-1 under new head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who was hired to replace former head coach Bob Bradley, who led the team to a 4-4-2 record until his ouster in late July.

Goalkeeper Kasey Keller and midfielder Mauro Rosales of the Seattle Sounders were named Tuesday Major League Soccer's Goalkeeper and Newcomer of the Year for the 2011 season, respectively.

Keller, now retired from the sport after a 20-year career, won the award for the first time in his career after playing every minute of all 34 regular season games and leading the Sounders to the second-best record in the league at 18-7-9 with 63 points, four points behind the two-time Supporters Shield and Western Conference regular season champion Los Angeles Galaxy (19-5-10, 67).

He also led the league in wins and in save percentage at 76 percent, had a 1.09 goals against average and nine shutouts this season to beat out Faryd Mondragon of the Philadelphia Union and Kevin Hartman of FC Dallas.

Keller has been named to the MLS All-Star Team in all three seasons with Seattle after playing over 100 games for the US Men's National Team as well as internationally.

Morales was tied for third on the team in goals with five this season and had 13 assists, five of them game-winners.

He joined Seattle this season after playing for Argentina's River Plate and defeated New York Red Bulls star Luke Rodgers and Eric Hassli of the Vancouver Whitecaps for the award.

Major League Soccer's New England Revolution could name former teammate Jay Heaps as their new head coach Tuesday and introduce him to the media Wednesday, according to Monday's Boston Globe.

Heaps, who played eight-plus years with the team, appeared in a franchise-record 294 games and was the league's Rookie of the Year in 1999, would replace Steve Nicol, who was terminated after a decade with the team after the Revolution (5-16-13) tied for the fewest points in the league with the Vancouver Whitecaps (6-18-10) at 28 points, with both teams finishing last in the Eastern and Western Conference standings, respectively.

Heaps has been serving as a color analyst on local broadcasts of Revolution games since retiring from the game and has no coaching experience.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew announced the signing of veteran midfielder Eddie Gaven to a multi-year contract extension Monday.

Gaven, who compleed his ninth outdoor season and sixth with the Crew, came to the team in a March 2006 trade with the New York Red Bulls. Columbus also traded Edson Buddle to the Red Bulls in exchange for the rights to Chris Leitch.

Gaven missed eight games this season with an ankle injury, but scored five goals and assisted on another in 26 regular season games.

In his six seasons in Columbus, he has started 154 of 165 matches, scoring 26 goals and 19 assists in 13,362 miniues played.

Gaven was selected the team's Most Valuable Player in 2010 after scoring three goals and five assists in 28 games.

Owner and head coach Bo Vukovic of the Vermont Voltage of the USL Premier Development League announced Monday he has turned over coaching duties to Hugh Brown, who will also become the team's director of player personnel.

Brown has been in coaching for 16 years and is the founder and director of Synergy Football Club, a youth soccer academy in Vermont.

Head coach Dominic Kinnear of the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo announced Monday midfielder Bard Davis will miss Sunday's MLS Cup championship game against the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Galaxy at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA due to suffering an injured right quadricep muscle a few minutes before halftime in their 2-0 conference championship win November 6 over Sporting Kansas City.

Bruce Arena of the Los Angeles Galaxy become the first person to win Major League Soccer's Coach of the Year award three times after accepting the 2011 season honor Monday.

Arena previously won the award in 1997 with DC United and in 2009 with the Galaxy and beat out finalists Sigi Schmid of the Seattle Sounders and Peter Vermes of Sporting Kansas City for the 2011 honor.

In 2011, the Galaxy:

- won the Supporters Shield for overall best record and the regular season Western Conference championship for the second straight season

- finished with a 19-5-10 record and 67 points, their second-best point total since the league's inaugural season in 1996

- set a new single season record for shutouts with 17

- gave up 28 goals, third-fewest in the league this season

- had a best-in-MLS +20 goal differential

- had a 0.62 goals against average, third-best in league history

- went undefeated at home this season at 17-0.

Since Arena, a former US Men's National Team and University of Virginia head coach, joined the Galaxy in August 2008 from the eague's New York Red Bulls, the Galaxy are 51-23-30 in 104 regular season games, have won two Supporters Shield titles and have made to the championship game of two MLS Cups.

The Galaxy will host the Eastern Conference champion Houston Dynamo Sunday in MLS Cup 2011 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, then, in March 2012, will meet MLS' Toronto FC in the quarterfinals of the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.

Support for the Major Indoor Soccer League this season remains strong as 20,000 fans attended games this past weekend after 13,000 attended opening weekend contests last week, according to the league Monday.

The highest-attended game of the weekend took place at First Mariner Arena in Baltimore, where 8,078 saw the expansion Syracuse Silver Knights upset the defending league regular season champion Baltimore Blast, followed by 6,528 attending the Rochester Lancers' 13-4 home season loss to the Missouri Comets.

Major League Soccer's FC Dallas announced Monday goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and defender/midfielder Daniel Hernandez were named the team's Defensive Player of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year, respectively, for the second year in a row to highlight their 2012 year-end awards.

Hartman was the league's Player of the Month in July after posting a 0.66 goals-against average in six games, four of them being shutouts. He also had shutouts in two non-league games -- a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament July 12 and a similar victory over Alianza FC at the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League Group Phas July 28.

In all 2011 competitions, Hartman had 18 shutouts, with 13 coming in MLS, tying him with RSL's Nick Rimando for most in the league. Hartman also broke the former single-season team record of 11 shutouts set in 2999 by Matt Jordan.

Hernandez is an ambassador for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and dedicates time to participating in free soccer clinics for Hispanic youth for the FC Dallas Foundation.

Midfielder and team captain Brek Shea was named the winner of the team's Budweiser Golden Boot award after scoring 11 goals, along with assisting on four other goals, in 31 games this season, starting all but one.

Shea also has an assist in seven appearances with the US Men's National Team this year.

The Columbus Crew were named Monday the third and final Major League Soccer team to join the four-team field for the 2012 Carolina Challenge Cup preseason tournament February 25 to March 4 at Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, SC.

The Crew, who competed in the first two seasons of the event in 2004 and 2005, winning the inaugural version, will face DC United and the Chicago Fire, along with the host Charleston Battery of USL PRO, who has never won the tournament in its nine-year history.

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham was named Monday the team's first winner of Major League Soccer's Comeback Player of the Year award.

After playing in only seven games in 2010 after tearing his Achilles tendon, Beckham appeared in a career-high 26 games this season, scored two goals, and had the second-most assists in the league at 15.

Beckham beat out Charlie Davies of DC United and Dominic Oduro of the Chicago Fire for the honor.

Down 9-5 at halftime, the defending Major Indoor Soccer League champion Milwaukee Wave fired off four straight two-point goals from Tom Oatley, Nicolas Perera, Marcio Leite and Josh Rife en route to defeating the winless Wichita Wings 15-13 Sunday in their season opener at Milwaukee's US Cellular Arena.

Jonathan Santos had a three-point goal and Greg Howes added a two-pointer or the Wave, who, at 1-0, are in second place in the three-team Central Division, a game behind the undefeated Missouri Comets (3-0), who Milwaukee faces this Sunday at Independence Events Center in Independence, MO.

Kevin Ten Eyke led the Winsg with five points on a three-point and a two-point goal, Alargie Jobe hit a pair of two-pointers, and Jamar Beasley and Chris Lemons scored standard goals in the loss, dropping them to 0-3, last in the Central and three behind the Comets. Wichita hosts the defending regular season champion Baltimore Blast this Saturday at Hartman Arena.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Alex Megson had a trio of goals and Andre Berenzon had a three-point and a two-point goal as the Syracuse Silver Knights stunned the defending Major Indoor Soccer League champion Baltimore Blast 18-7 Saturday at First Mariner Arena in Baltimore.

David Hall tallied a three-point goal for Syracuse and Slavisa Ubiparipovic and Jeffrey Hughes posted two-pointers each to take the Eastern Division lead at 3-0, tying them with the Central Division-leading Missouri Comets for the MISL's best record.

Max Ferdinand led the Blast with a three-point play and Mike Lookingland and Carlos Garcia scored two-pointers as the Blast lost their season opener and are tied for last place in the three-team Central Division with the Norfolk SharX (same record).

Syracuse will travel to the Rochester Lancers in the first round of their New York state series this Saturday, while the Blast face the Comets on the road this Friday.

The two-time defending Professional Arena Soccer League champion San Diego Sockers got a hat trick from Kraig Chiles and two goals from Nate Hetherington and fired off five goals in the final quarter of play after playing to a 5-5 draw to get past the debuting Anaheim Bolts 10-6 Saturday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Chiky Luna, Carlos Borja, Eric Wunderle, Dan Antoniuk and Brian Farber also scored for the Sockets, tied for second in the Western Division with the expansion Phoenix Monsoon, also sharing a 1-0 record and two points and putting themselves two points behind the former Premier Arena Soccer League member Turlock Express for the division lead.

Anaheim, at 0-1, is tied with Revolucion Tijuana (same record) and the Tacoma Stars (0-2) for last place in the division.

Both teams will meet again this coming Saturday, with the Sockers hosting at Del Mar Arena.

Mirsad Dzilic had two goals as the Kansas Magic got past the Illinois Piasa 4-3 Saturday in the team's Professional Arena Soccer League home opener at EPIC Indoor Sports.

Colin Bulwich and Kyle Brown added single goals and the Magic are 2-0 with four points, good for second in the Eastern Division, two points behind Detroit Waza Flo Pro (3-0, six points), who they host next Sunday.

Roger Gemoules led the Piasa with a goal and an assist on a Tim Vance goal and Justin Judiscak added a goal as the Piasa dropped their second game of the season, putting them in a last-place tie with the Ohio Vortex (0-2) and the Cincinnati Kings (0-1). Illinois get their shot at Detroit this Saturday.

Adam Boyer and Tee Shipalane each had hat tricks to lead the Louisville Lightning to an 11-9 victory over the host Cincinnati Kings in Professional Arena Soccer League play Saturday from Cincinnati Gardens.

Ross Hopkins added two more goals and single goals were scored by Scott Stockum, Luis Pacheco and Ryan McDonald and Louisville improved their record to 1-1 with two points, good for second place in the Eastern Division standings.

Allen Eller had a hat trick for Cincinnati, who also plays outdoors in the USL Premier Development League, and Kwame Sarkoidie posted a pair, with Nik Djokic, Rashawn Lamar, Shawn Rockey and Adam Ross pitching in goals for the Kings, 0-1 and tied for last place in the division with the Illinois Piasa (same record) and the Ohio Vortex (0-2).

Stefan St. Louis had a pair of goals and assists and Ryan Mack had two goals and an assist as Detroit Waza Flo Pro continues to lead the Professional Arena Soccer League's Eastern Division after a 9-7 victory Saturday at Taylor Sportsplex in Taylor, MI over the Ohio Vortex.

Miki Djerisilo also had two goals, Costea Decu added a goal and an assist, and Dominic Scicluna and Zach Wilkes each had a point as Detroit is now 3-0 with six points. They will travel to the Illinois Piasa this coming Saturday.

Georgi Petrov and Jared Dombrowski each had two goals for the Vortex, 0-2 and tied for last place in the division with the Cincinnati Kings, who Ohio hosts this Saturday.

Judson McKinney contributed a goal and an assist with Ryan McClay and Andy Lorei contributing goals for the Vortex.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Ryan Junge had a three-point goal and a two-pointer and Vahid Assadpour had a pair of standard goals as the Missouri Comets defeated the Rochester Lancers 13-4 in a Saturday afternoon Major Indoor Soccer League contest at Rochester, NY's Blue Cross Arena.

Leo Gibson and Christiano Diaz each added two-pointers as the Comets now have the best record in the league and its Central Division at 3-0. Missouri next hosts the defending regular season champion Baltimore Blast this Friday.

Jeremy Ortiz and Mauricio Salles scored for Rochester, who are in last place in the Eastern Division at 0-2 and host the division-leading Syracuse Silver Knights next Saturday.

By way of a 1-0 upset win Friday over rival Haiti, the combined entry of Antigua and Barbuda has joined the US, Jamaica and Guatemala in Group A for the third round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Rio de Janiero, Brazil that begins in June 2012.

12 teams have qualified for the next phase of qualification, with the top two teams from each group after the third round advancing to the final round, where the top three teams at the end of that phase will represent CONCACAF in the World Cup field.

Group B features Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guyana, while Group C has Canada, who qualified Friday with a scoreless draw against St. Kitts & Nevis, along with Honduras, Cuba and Panama.

The Syracuse Silver Knights lead the Major Indoor Soccer League's Eastern Division at 2-0 after pummeling the host Norfolk SharX 23-7 in their 2011-12 season opener Friday at the Norfolk Scope Arena.

Sinisa Ubiparipovic had a nine-point night with a trio of two-point goals and a three-point shot and Andre Berenzen had seven points off a three-pointer and a pair of two-pointers to carry Syracuse to victory.

Andriy Budnyy added a three-point play and Daniel Hall and Daniel Stevens had two-point goals each foe the Silver Knights, who travel Saturday to face the defending regular season champion Baltimore Blast.

Brady Bryant led Norfolk with a three-point goal and an assist on a Miguel Ferrer standard goal. Matthew Delicate also scored for the SharX, now 0-1 and tied for last place in the division with the Rochester Lancers, 1 1/2 games back. Norfolk will take on the defending league champion Milwaukee Wave next Saturday at US Cellular Arena in Milwaukee.

Friday, November 11, 2011

For the fifth time this year, the US Men's National Team saw an international friendly game end with a 1-0 score...and, for the fourth straight time, they were on the wrong side of the score as Loic Remy scored in the 72nd minute as France defeated them Friday at Stade de France in Paris.

The US, 34th in the world in the most recent FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings, with one game left on their 2011 schedule this Tuesday at Slovenia, will finish with a losing record for the first time snce 1997, when they finished 5-6-7.

The US is currently 5-8-3 overall, but 1-5-1 since Jurgen Klinsmann took over as head coach August 10 for a game with Mexico.

It was the third time in team history France beat the US and France extended their current winning streak to 16 games.

The US last played France in Paris in October 1979, where they lost 3-0. Before that, the French blew past the Americans 6-0 six months earlier.

The Montreal Impact, set to join Major League Soccer for the 2012 season, announced Friday former player and current assistant coach Mauro Biello has been retained by new team head coach Jesse Marsch.

Biello became the team's assistant coach November 19, 2009 and has held the positions during theit time in the USSF Division 2 Pro League in 2010 and the North American Soccer League.this season after ending a 19-year playing career, 16 of those in Montreal, where he retired as their all-time leader in games played, games started, minutes played, goals, assists, game-winning goals and shots on goal.

Biello was a four-time team Most Valuable Player (1997, 1998, 2001, 2005), a five-time league First Team All-Star and a one-time Second Team All-Star. He also led the team to three league championship titles (1994, 2004, 2009), five regular season championships (1995, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2006) and the Nutrilite Canadian Championship in 2008.

After a three-week-long, NCAA tournament-style system of working with 32 nominated top goals of the 2011 season, with the help of Major League Soccer fans, who selected the field through the Save of the Week series throughout the season, MLS announced the four finalists Friday for their 2011 Save of the Year award.

After a three-week-long, NCAA tournament-style system of working with 64 nominated top goals of the 2011 season, with the help of Major League Soccer fans, who helped select half the field through the Goal of the Week series throughout the season, MLS announced the four finalists Friday for their 2011 Goal of the Year award.

Los Angeles Galaxy forward Chad Barrett will miss the team's 2011 Major League Soccer Cup championship game against the Houston Dynamo next Sunday at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA after dislocating his right ankle Thursday at practice.

The seven-year veteran, who is in his first season with the Galaxy after being traded by Toronto FC this season, was second on the team in goals with seven, had five assists and started in all three of LA's playoff games.

The two-time defending Professional Arena Soccer League champion San Diego Sockers announced Thursday they reached an agreement with Broadcast Company of the Americas to have ten games air on ESPN Radio 1700 AM this season and they retained their online broadcast partnership with 619Sports.net to carry all 2012 season games on their website and SDSockers.com.

The Sockers' deal with ESPN Radio 1700 calls for coverage of seven regular season home games from Del Mar Arens, one regular season road games, and the semifinals and final of the 2011-12 PASL Championship Tournament.

Here is the schedule of games to air on the radio (All games start at 7 p.m. local time, except for January 27 broadcast):

- November 19 vs. Anaheim Bolts

- November 26 vs. Revolucion Tijuana

- December 17 vs. Tacoma Stars

- December 27 vs. to be named US Open Arena Soccer Championship opponent

About Me

I have over 30 years of experience in all forms of the media -- broadcast, print, electronic and Internet -- and have spent over seven years covering sports. I now work as a media relations specialist in Battle Creek, MI.